7 (f.b.) Dams

7 (f.b.) Dams

Water is pretty powerful stuff! When electricity is generated from flowing water, this is called hydroelectric energy, and the prefix 'hydro' refers to water.Hydroelectric energy is considered a renewable energy resource because it's an energy resource that regenerates in a short time period. You can think of this like the hair on your head. If you get a bad haircut that you don't like, you don't have to worry about it too much because it will grow back in a reasonable amount of time. However, if you lose an arm, you certainly can't regenerate that! Your hair is a renewable resource, whereas your arm is a non-renewable resource.Sunlight, wind and heat generated from the earth are similar types of renewable energy resources. Just like you can't stop water from flowing, you can't stop the sun from shining or the wind from blowing. The resource 'renews' itself as it is used, and unlike things such as minerals and metals, does not occur on Earth in a limited supply.

So, how exactly is electricity generated from water? This usually occurs through a hydroelectric dam that is built along a flowing waterway. As water travels downhill, it picks up speed and power. To take advantage of this, dams are constructed along the waterway where there is a large elevation drop.Like going down a slide at the playground, water is pulled downhill by gravity and picks up speed as it goes (you're moving faster at the bottom of the slide than at the top, right?). Inside the dam are turbines that get spun by the moving water - similar to how a pinwheel gets spun by the wind blowing by. The spinning turbine shafts are connected to a generator, and the spinning of the turbines themselves creates electricity inside the generator. The generator is connected to power lines, which transmit the electricity to homes and buildings just like they do with coal-fired and natural gas power plants.

As you already know, hydroelectric energy is beneficial because it's a renewable resource. The water is not affected as it flows through the dam and spins the turbines - water will flow whether there's a dam there or not! This also means that there is minimal pollution, unlike the air and water pollution generated from coal and nuclear power plants. Because water flows along naturally, we also do not have to create any water to run through the dam. Water is provided by nature, and we simply have to sit back and let it do all the work!

Dams, however, are specifically designed to hold water behind them. This provides a steady, constant flow of energy from the water that runs through it. So instead of depending on rainfall to deliver water, we know that the water will be there waiting to spin those turbines inside the dam.